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Book Summary and Reviews of Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth

The Locked Tomb Series #3

by Tamsyn Muir

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2022, 480 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Tamsyn Muir's New York Times and USA Today bestselling Locked Tomb Series continues with Nona the Ninth.

Her city is under siege.

The zombies are coming back.

And all Nona wants is a birthday party.

In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back.

The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.

And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Muir tackles a new perspective in this characteristically brilliant successor to Harrow the Ninth, which offers a much more personal and tightly framed focus than the rest of the Locked Tomb series...Muir's skill is such that readers will be desperate to find out the truth of Nona's background but will still savor the quiet moments with this heartbreaking character. Nona's lovely, simple, and occasionally silly voice works especially well in juxtaposition with the dark, dense backdrop of the series so far, creating a riveting contrast. Readers will be on the edges of their seats." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A deceptively quiet beginning rockets to a thrilling finish, preparing us for the next volume's undoubtedly explosive finale." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This uniquely poignant arc of a young woman's search for an ordinary life within a very extraordinary world is both stunning in its simpler moments and shocking in its reveals. Readers get lost in the story lines, but Muir's clever prose always provides a path to the end. Muir's third entry in 'The Locked Tomb' series (after Harrow the Ninth) is as immersive and original as its predecessors." - Library Journal (starred review)

"If you've read the first two books in this trilogy, I don't need to say anything to persuade you to pick up Nona the Ninth. If you don't know Muir's characters and worlds yet, then, my god, I envy you. It's hard to think of anyone more inventive, more audacious—more fun!—who is writing science fiction now." - Kelly Link

"Nothing's fair in love and war, but damn if Nona doesn't make both fun." - August Clarke, author of The Scapegracers

"A stunning rollercoaster of a read where Tasmyn ups the ante even further. She has a gorgeous talent for burning so many genres together that a new one rises from the ashes, sword at the ready and a delightful quip ready to go." - Rin Chupeco, author of The Bone Witch

This information about Nona the Ninth was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir is the bestselling author of the Locked Tomb Series. Her fiction has won the Locus and Crawford awards, and been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Dragon Award, and the Eugie Foster Memorial Award. A Kiwi, she has spent most of her life in Howick, New Zealand, with time living in Waiuku and central Wellington. She currently lives and works in Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

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